Hessians of Burbank centers around Miriam: a thirty-something metal-head who escapes her soul-sucking desk job and heads for Hollywood on a quest to realize her lifelong dream of becoming a VJ. The show, created by and starring Runa, follows the lives of aging metal-heads refusing to evolve for anyone or anything as the world passes them by. It is an insightful, poignant homage to the bygone years of VJs and music videos- when heavy metal ruled the Earth.

“The minute Satu pitched this project to us we were interested. There’s something so universal about Miriam’s journey. Not everyone dreams of being a VJ, but everyone struggles with these ideas about identity, especially at a time when so many are encouraged to “follow their passion” at all costs. Hessians explores that cost with humor, honesty, and an unapologetically metal attitude. We’re thrilled to be working together on this project and can’t wait to introduce the world to Miriam.” -Amanda W. Timpson“Hessians is a reflection of the MTV generation. What happens to our idols after they fall? What does it mean to return to your roots after you’ve settled for conformity? Pollen Pictures understands the story I want to tell, and I’m honored to work them.” –Satu Runa

With a character-driven point of view in the style of Amazon’s Fleabag, Hessians’ biting humor ties in the musical humor and fantasy elements of Mozart in the Jungle with the playful snobbery and philosophical musings of High Fidelity (2000). This is the first joint venture of Pollen Pictures and Ms. Runa.

About Satu Runa: Actress Satu Runa (The Coalition, Rizzoli & Isles) started out interviewing rock bands on public access in Jersey City, NJ. She worked in production at Fuse Networks, Vh1, and has been on-camera talent for Fangoria TV. A graduate of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, Satu directed and starred in the pilot for 1⁄2 hour comedy Queen Gorya (2014) after a successful Kickstarter campaign. Official Site:www.saturuna.comTwitter:@SatuRuna

About Pollen Pictures: Pollen Pictures is an independent production company developing and producing engaging, provocative projects for TV, film, and digital platforms. Founded with the belief that storytelling is our most powerful tool for inciting change, Pollen Pictures is dedicated to diverse and inclusive storytelling both in front of the camera and behind. Official Site: www.pollen-pictures.com

I have a story idea that takes place in the early 90s and I’m having the hardest time getting started. Taking a closer look at what is causing my hesitancy, I find that it’s because the cast would have to be mostly white due to the historical context. To be more inclusive for people of color, how do I proceed?

One thing I’ve noticed about period TV programs is the noticeable erasure of people of color. One could possibly attribute this to a recreation of the “Hollywood version” of history, featuring all white leads, as well as actual history- where the storyline takes place in a workplace scenario where people of color were rarely (if ever) hired during this time. I love well done period TV shows, particularly when it serves as a metaphor for current societal issues. What doesn’t work for me in the constant repetition of revisiting the past in American television: zero people of color in leading or even guest-starring roles. While the country celebrates a return to the 80s genre TV movies with Netflix’s Stranger Things, I’m left wondering: why are we doing this again? Haven’t we fought tooth and nail to push away from all the character tropes of TV past?

Stranger Things (Netflix)

Turns out people will eat it up. I know, I did too. For a few episodes. But I was horribly distracted by the lack of seeing something “new.” It was familiar, but not in a good way. It reminded me of a time lost, but it also reminded me that there is a psychological desire to cut non-white people out of the creative conversation. I don’t think that was the intention of the Duffer Brothers. As is the case with the Coen Brothers, “[the 80s, white Midwest] is the world we know.” As several smart people have pointed out- are aliens/zombies/vampires any easier to write about on a fictional level, without truly understanding them, living with, or growing up with them?

I’m starved for things like The Get Down. It takes place in the late 70s Bronx borough, and I can’t get enough of it. I was born in the 80s and I listen to every kind of music and I still understand the 70s nostalgia factor. But the show does not solely aim to tickle your easily picked at nostalgia scabs or heartstrings. From what I can tell (and I wasn’t there) it feels totally 70s in every aspect of the sense, but it’s also examining the underbelly from a fantastical perspective (as Baz Luhrmann often does and does well). The music speaks for itself and lives within a cast of highly spirited, talented actors.

The Get Down (Netflix)

We see familiar faces from a legendary decade, people we’ve since celebrated for their skill in creating an entirely new, much needed musical genre to tear disco apart and destroy the status quo. Isn’t that what revolution is about? Isn’t that what art is about? The show’s format itself rips apart the norm. Baz Luhrmann for television, in it’s second Golden Age (can we call it the Platinum Age already?), co-written by the Pulitzer prize winning playwright, Stephen Adly Giurgis (Our Lady of 121st Street, Jesus Hopped the A-Train, Last Days of Judas Iscariot), the show is bound for a promising recipe of artistic excellence. And it delivers, all of these things: Nostalgia, top class talent, and a new way to recreate that specific time and place through fantasy.

What turns me off about Stranger Things– because it’s replicating, it features all the tropes we are desperately pushing away from. What holds me back from congratulating Stranger Things and anything else like it (let’s call it “Nostalgiacore”): while it remarkably recreates what we love about 80s film + TV, it also clearly showcases things that were wrong about 80s Hollywood, including all white casts with one token person of color, and stereotypical, tropey roles for women and girls. I enjoy period stories showcasing what society was genuinely like, but I do have an issue with revisiting a time in which Hollywood itself was less enlightened. Things that, should we see it in any other program, would make us cringe and trash it to pieces. Being “woke” has gotten to a point were it takes an exorbitant amount of forgiveness to get through certain films of “less enlightened times” and to me, it’s not excusable to recreate our past mistakes. Today, we want to see more from our media. Time to adapt.

Back to my story idea that takes place in a very white part of the country in the early 90s, in a very white “scene”: I’m going to do more research. If I can find the people of color in this narrative, I’d rather include them, especially if they were left out of historical documentation. Otherwise I feel like I’m doing a disservice to progress, and I’ll have to write about something else. The story is important for women (feminist), despite the scene in question being entirely dominated by white women (lacking intersectional feminism). I don’t want to careen the story into present day, but I don’t want to write “another story devoid of color” either, not for me, or anyone else. Especially when my (mixed) perspective includes color.